Renee's review of Skin Dive (Skin #4) by Ava Gray

"Landep News"

Renee's review of Skin Dive (Skin #4) by Ava Gray

Gillie is a fugitive, determined never to be bound again. Because of her special gift, her former captors intend to retrieve her-by any means necessary. Taye can't remember much about his past, but with a bounty hunter hounding them, he'll do anything to assure Gillie's safety and preserve her innocence...for himself.

It always worries me when I have really high expectations going in to reading a book. That was surely the case with Skin Dive. Not only was I totally blown away by Skin Heat, book 3 in Ava Gray's (aka author Ann Aguirre) Skin series, but this is the conclusion to the highly original paranormal series.

Gillie and Taye were introduced in book 2, Skin Tight, as prisoners of an undergound research facility that experiments on and uses the "talents" of its unusual inmates. Skin Dive picks up with their escape from the facility.

While previous events leading up to Skin Dive are well covered and never feel like an info dump, I highly recommend reading this series in order to get the most out of it. It's a great series, and while Skin Heat remains my favorite, Skin Dive is where the pay-off of the larger story arc that runs through all of the books takes place.

Gillie and Taye are on the run from the same people who imprisoned them, and are unable to use their abilities (he's able to control/use electricity and she is a healer) since that will "ping" the bad guys to where they are. All Gillie wants to do is live a "normal" life, and all Taye wants to do is protect Gillie and give her that life. Yet, this doesn't mean that they settle into a domestic bliss while living incognito. The tension between them is delicious and heart-wrenching. After living so long in such unnatural circumstances (Gillie was imprisoned from a young age, and Taye doesn't remember his life prior to imprisonment) neither have the skills to communicate the way they need to with one another, or create the relationship they crave.

The chemistry between these two is hot, and the push-pull between their wanting to be together and Tay's reasons for drawing away kept me turning pages to see what would happen next.

All of this angst is set against the backdrop of trying to stay one step ahead of the Foundation, and becoming aware that they aren't the only gifted people who are trying to stay free of them.

What really makes Skin Dive work for me is that the plot of the battle between the Foundation and the Resistance is what provides not only exciting page-turning action, but also is the catalyst for a lot of Gillie's and Taye's character growth.

My one frustration with Skin Dive was that it took so long for Taye to really open up with Gillie. He did a lot of withholding of information to "protect" her, and that made me want to smack him. Hard. However, he more than makes up for it in the end, with one of the best grovels I've read in a long time.

I'm sad that I don't have another book in this series to look forward to, but the 4 book arc was really well done. The way that the story was resolved and the wonderful romance between Gillie and Taye made Skin Dive a very satisfying read.

4.5 out of 5.

The Series: